Item description: The 21st North Carolina Infantry Regiment of the Army of the Confederate States of America was organized in Danville, Va., on 18 June 1861 as the 11th Regiment North Carolina Volunteers.This order book contains entries from 12 July 1861 to 6 April 1864. Orders were issued by Robert E. Lee, P. G. T. Beauregard and others. The Orders concern troop movements,camp life,etc.Of particular interest in General Beauregard’s order relating to Union General Butler’s order no. 44.

General Butler original order, issued on 15 May 1862, caused quite a particular internationally as well as nationally. Reacting to frequent insults of Union soldiers by many women of New Orleans, Butler issued Order No. 28, which instructed troops to treat the women who insulted them as common prostitutes. For more background on Butlers order, see http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0712.html.

For the information of this army the following General Orders No. 28 of the Federal Officer Major General Butler (The ? of the North) commanding of New Orleans will be read on ?? “Notice”

General Orders No. 28

Head Quarters Department of the Gulf
New Orleans, May 15, 1862.

As the officers and soldiers of the United States have been subject to repeated insults from the women (calling themselves ladies) of New Orleans in return for the most scrupulous non-interference and courtesy on our part, it is ordered that hereafter when any female shall by word, gesture, or movement insult or show contempt for any officer or soldier of the United States she shall be regarded and held liable to be treated as a woman of the town plying her avocation.

By command of
Maj Genl Butler

Geo. C. Strong,
A.A. Gen Chief of Staff

Men of the South Shall our mothers our wives our daughters and our sisters be thus outraged by the ruffianly Soldiers of the North to whom is given the right to treat at their pleasure the ladies of the South as common harlots? Arouse! friends and drive back from our Soil those infamous invaders of our homes and disturbers of our family ties.